infocus #60 December 2020 Exploring Nvidia's Jetson Xavier NX

This research was carried out to demonstrate the ability of a tiny computer (a Jetson Xavier NX) to view and then capture images seen using a 3D printed microscope and a Raspberry Pi camera. The 3D printed microscope was previously printed in the lab using the OpenFlexure project, and all the materials were sent to me so that I was able to construct the microscope myself and safely work from home.

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.196

I hoped that clear images were able to be viewed using the microscope and thought that trying to view onion cells would be a good demonstration of this because they are transparent and generally easy to view. If the Jetson was going to be suitable for capturing such images, I thought that I would use it for my fourth-year project as an undergraduate student. The code that would tell the Jetson to take a picture of what could be seen through the microscope was written using Python – a high-level general-purpose programming language. The basis of the project was to use and become familiar with the Jetson Xavier NX and to test microscopy-based applications using this small AI supercomputer.

The aim was to view and capture images using a 3D printed microscope, that was paired with a Raspberry Pi camera, all powered by the Jetson. The microscopy was performed using a 3D printed OpenFlexure microscope which I had previous experience with and knew to be reliable.

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